The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-31
OLIVER DAwsoN's CAREER.
A Sketch OF Man Who Has Made
and Lost Several Fortunes.

ana lJOSb SGNtTti VI NAlhSS.
NEW YORK, Oct % Not few of the
men one meets in Wall street have had an
event.ul career, but very few have had an
experience SO of vlclSsitudes and so in
teresting in a commercial sense as q man of
medium height. of rather pOrtly build,
with somewhat heavy, oval features, of
genial expression. which, however, does
not entirely cohceal an underlying decision
of character that e suitable occasion would
make plainly manifest. He is always dressed
quietly vet with sciupulous, regard to the
best mode, ard he closely watches the
market fluctuations from the opening of the
board till the gong of the Stock Exchange
announces the end of the speculative battle
II is Oliver 5. Dawson. He is not one of the
powers of the street; far from it. But few
of the giants of the speculative world have
had a more varied career. Many of the
lesser lights of Wall street. indeed, are more
interesting in some respects than those who
have achieved colossal wealth, often by
the comparatively easy methods known
TO financial jugglers with the law.
Mr.. Dawson was born in Peoria, ILL.,,
where his father was dry goods merchant,
and where young Dawson acquired his first
business experience. He came to New York
in 1861 when he was 10 years of age, with
$40 900, which he had acquired in the dry
goods trade. He decided to risk his moder
ate fortune in stock speculation, and the
late Charles Osborn was his broker. ''Char
lev" Osborn, as he was generally called, was
the broker who engineered the famous
Northwest corner for Jay Gould, in which
he was so signally successful that he
crippled not few strong operators;
and Mr.. Osborn is remembered as the only
one of Jay GOuld's brokers who was
sharp enough to keep the large commission
received from Gould instead of being drawn
into operations by which that Machiavelli
of Wall street usually relieved them with
the remorselessness of a thug of the fortunes
he had made for them as his lieutenants in
the board. For time young Dawson, I'M
der Charley Osborn's guidance, was success
full, but in an evil moment he went into a
bull pool in New York Central, Michigan
Central and Rock Island, and on July 2,
1862, when the news came of Gen. Nc
Clellan's defeat on the Peninsula, the mar
ket fell 10 to Is per cent. in the midst of
great excitement By this decline he lost $50,
900, all he had. Then he went to st. Louis,
and Joined the brigade of Gen. Frank Blair
with the rank of captain. He was to recruit
a company in Illinois, but at about that
time a law was passed prohibiting recruit
ing in one State for the regiments of
another, whereupon Capt. Dawson resigned
and devoted his attention to army contracts,
remaining in st. Louis. For a year and a
half he had all of Gen Grants contracts
there and also those of Gen. Rosecrans, con-
tracing at times for as much as -, 900 tons
of hay, not to mention large quantities of
other supplies. The contracts proved very
remunerative, and once more he could be
termed wealthy. In filling these
contracts he started for Louisville on
his own boat, but got aground i'll the
Ohio river and had to go back to Smithland,
KY, where he was ordered to Memphis
On his way thither he was fired upon
through mistake by the Union batteries at
Paducah. but at length reached his destina-
tian, where he was ordered to Osceola, Ark,
TO get the packet Platte Valley Off the bar
opposite that town, which was held by 5000
Confederates under Gen Clark The packet
had been fired upon by the COnfederates
on the way down and about fifteen men
were killed, in Audiug the pilot, who was
shot as he was getting out Of the BARRIERS
he was about to be attacked, a
fact which he learned from Con-
federate whom he had carefully primed
with commissary whisky, and he then pro-
ceeded to st. Louis. In 1864 he returned
to New York with considerable money, but
made the mistake of going short in the gold
room and lost most of it. He speculated in
stocks for several years, and in 1861 entered
into a bear campaign in Erie. Daniel
Drew, then one Of the giants of Wall street,
had taken Jay Gould, Henry n Smith and
some others into bull pool in Erie. Mr..
Gould was at that time member of the
brokerage firm of Smith Gould q Martin.
The bear pool sold the stock short, and made
bogus or ''wash" sales, and hammered the
market until some of the bulls be
came nervous Some of the bear con
spirators, Dawson among the number,
solemnly assured the more nervous
bulls that old Daniel Drew was quietly
selling out. To give color to this
erroneous statement the bear pool made a
''washn sale of $4,000 shares and bluffed off
skeptics by offers to bet $4,000 that it was
genuine transaction. This so frightened
some of the bulls that they really believed
that sly old Daniel Drew was unloading, and
they thereupou threw overheard their stocd,
which the unsuspecting Uncle Daniel was
compelled to take in order to protect him
self. Hill, the bear manipulation, drove the
price down II per cent, and LATER when
Henry N. Smith quarreled with Jay Gould,
he said that the latter lost 100000 10y the
break, but made the Erie road stand the
loss. 1t is believed by many that Gould
would have been ruined in more than one
speculation if he had not had the
Erie road at his back. In the end, how
ever. the bear pool, in which Dawson was
one of the leading spirits made little or no
money, the market finally going against
them. In 1868 he went to San Francisco
and became a great friend of the famous
RalSton, whose one ambition was to make
the Bank of California as great as the Bank
of England, and committed suicide on the
failure of the institution for which he had
entertained such daring hopes. Dawson
specialized in mining shares for awhile, and
again became interested about the same time
in Government contracts He was, it seems,
the lowest bidder on a contract to sup
ply 81 ,000, 900 worth of beef to the Sioux
Indians and was largely instrumental in
bringing about an investigation of the In
terror Department which rejected his bid,
the inquiry into its methods finally result
ing in the retirement of Columbus Delano,
the Secretary of the Interior. In 1869 Daw-
son, after stage trip of 500 miles, reached
Treasure Hill, New, where there was a
great silver mining excitement Some Of
the ore assayed 1000 a ton, and where
there was once mere wilderness there
sprung up Treasure City, 10000 feet above
the level OF the sea, with population sud
denly increased in the dead of winter from
mere handful of prospectors to 10000
people, with twentysix faro banks in opera
tlon and at least one murder day to satisfy
the police demand for a lively civilization
In conjunction with ex-Gov. Madison he
erected large smelling works and shipped
large amount of silver. Those were times
that suggested the hfe-like fiction of Bret
Harte The "Eberhardtn was then great
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